Small, Minority and Women-Owned Business Account — Video Lottery Terminal Fund (VLT)

About this page.  This page explains the VLT Fund in plain language. The Small, Minority, and Women-Owned Businesses Account is established under State Government Article §9-1A-35, and funded under State Government Article §9-1A-27. If anything on this page conflicts with the statute, the statute controls.

Program Status

The program is active. Loans are made through regional fund managers, not by Commerce directly.

What This Program Does

The State’s Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) fund uses proceeds from video lottery terminals (slots) to help small, minority, and women-owned businesses.

Under State Government Article §9-1A-27, 1.5% of the proceeds from video lottery terminals at each Maryland video lottery facility is paid into the Small, Minority, and Women-Owned Businesses Account. Those funds are then granted to eligible fund managers, who provide investment capital and loans to qualifying businesses.

Maryland has six video lottery facilities:

• Maryland Live — Anne Arundel County
• Hollywood Casino Perryville — Cecil County
• Rocky Gap — Allegany County
• Ocean Downs — Worcester County
• Horseshoe Casino — Baltimore City
• National Harbor — Prince George’s County

Who This Is For

Small, minority, and women-owned businesses in Maryland.

At least 50% of VLT funds must go to eligible businesses located in the jurisdictions and communities surrounding the six video lottery facilities. The remaining 50% is available to eligible businesses throughout Maryland.

Eligibility

Commerce does not set borrower-level eligibility criteria for this program. Each fund manager runs its own loan products and sets its own underwriting standards, loan sizes, terms, and eligible uses.

What this means for you.  Loan amounts, interest rates, credit requirements, and eligible uses vary by fund manager. Contact the fund manager serving your area to find out what they require and what they can lend. Some fund managers are micro-lenders making loans under $50,000; others make substantially larger loans.

Fund managers must comply with the statutory allocation requirement described above, so where your business is located affects which portion of a fund manager’s allocation you may draw from.

How It's Delivered

Commerce does not lend directly. Eligible fund managers oversee the distribution of VLT funds and run their own loan products. To apply, contact the fund manager serving your area.

Find a Fund Manager

• FSC First — VLT Small Business Flex Fund

  Stew Smith, Vice President, Business Development — [email protected]
  1801 McCormick Drive, Suite 300, Largo, MD 20774
  (301) 883-3610

• Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation — VOLT Fund

  Stephen Primosch, Vice President, Financial Services— [email protected]
  2660 Riva Road, Suite 200, Annapolis, MD 21401
  (410) 222-7410

• Meridian Management Group, Inc. — Maryland Casino Business Investment Fund

  Tim Smoot, Senior Vice President & CFO — [email protected]
  826 E. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
  (410) 333-4270

• Maryland Capital Enterprises, Inc. — Video Lottery Terminal Fund

  Maurice Ames, Director of Operations — [email protected]
  144 East Main Street, Salisbury, MD 21803
  (410) 546-1900

• Baltimore County Economic Development — Boost Fund

  Stanley Jacobs, Chief Lending Officer — [email protected]
  Department of Economic and Workforce Development, 400 Washington Avenue, Suite 100, Towson, MD 21204
  (410) 887-8000

• City of Baltimore Development Corporation — VLT Revolving Loan Fund

  Jeffrey P. Pillas, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer — [email protected]
  36 S. Charles Street, Suite 1600, Baltimore, MD 21201
  (410) 837-9305

• Howard County Economic Development Authority — Catalyst Fund

  Darshni Patel, MBA, Director of Business Incentive Programs — [email protected]
  6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 500, Columbia, MD 21046
  (410) 313-6512

• Tri County Council for Western Maryland — State Lottery Terminal (SLot) Fund

  Chris Funk, Business Development Loan Officer — [email protected]
  11 S. Lee Street, Cumberland, MD 21502
  (301) 689-1300

• Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation — Accelerating Community Excellence (ACE) Loan Fund

  Laurie M. Boyer Babb, CEcD, Director of Economic Development — [email protected]
  1801 Rockville Pike, Suite 320, Rockville, MD 20852
  (240) 641-6704

Legal Notices and Required Language

The Small, Minority, and Women-Owned Businesses Account is established under State Government Article §9-1A-35, which requires grants to eligible fund managers to provide investment capital and loans to small, minority, and women-owned businesses, with at least 50% allocated to businesses in the jurisdictions and communities surrounding a video lottery facility.

Funding comes from State Government Article §9-1A-27, which requires 1.5% of the proceeds from video lottery terminals at each video lottery facility to be paid into the Account.

Program reports:

• VLT Financial Report FY2024 - PDF - 1 MB
• VLT Report 2023 - PDF - 1.24 MB
• VLT Financial Report FY2022 - PDF - 1.03 MB
• VLT Fund Annual Report 2021 - PDF - 1.35 MB

Applicants should consult the authorizing statute and applicable regulations for the complete legal requirements governing this program.

Contact

Contact the fund manager serving your area — see “Find a Fund Manager” above. Commerce does not accept loan applications for this program.